Surviving Spouses Against Deportation

The Aytes Memorandum imposes unlawful restrictions on I-130 petition approval and continued validity, including requiring the surviving spouse to file a humiliating request for humanitarian reinstatement.  Should a surviving spouse in the Ninth Circuit wish to comply with the Aytes Memorandum in order to be granted lawful permanent resident status, the factors listed in the Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) should be carefully followed and documented.  The factors are listed in 9 FAM 42.42PN2, a copy of which is provided here.  Note that many of the "humanitarian factors" bear no real relationship to the reality of a grieving spouse and his or her family.  In addition, as outlined in the Motion for Summary Judgement in the Hootkins v. Chertoff class action lawsuit, such requirements as applied to the I-130 immigrant petition are unlawful.

In order to be considered under the Aytes Memorandum, a surviving spouse should submit the following to the office which adjudicated the I-130 petition or where it is pending:

1) Humanitarian Reinstatement Request: There is no form for this request.  The request may be in letter or affidavit form, setting out the basis for the humanitarin request, as outlined in the FAM section to the right.  Extensive documentation should be provided with the written request, including such things as birth certificates of children, photographs of family, medical records, school records, church records, numerous affidavits from friends and family members attesting to the hardship, documentation of residence in the U.S. including work records, social security records, mortgage or rental payments, utility bills, and published USCIS processing times showing processing delays.  While such a showing is obviously burdensome and unwarranted by existing law, USCIS has indicated it may approve cases that make this extraordinary showing.

2) A Form I-864 executed by a qualifying relative listed in 8 USC 1183a(f)(5)(B) along with a copy of the affiant's U.S. birth certificate, naturalization certificate, or I-551 permanent resident card, and including the past three years tax returns